Raytheon to Cut 200 Jobs

Government contractor Raytheon Co. announced Monday that it will lay off 200 employees and combine business divisions in an effort to streamline its operations.

The company said it will reorganize into four specific businesses: Intelligence, Information and Services, which will combine the  Intelligence and Information Systems and the Technical Services divisions; Integrated Defense Systems; Missile Systems; and Space and Airborne Systems, which are being “expanded by the realignment” of the company’s Network Centric Systems business.  Raytheon said the move will save the company $85 million in 2013, and will be effective April 1.

"Our new structure will help us enhance productivity, agility and affordability in a challenging defense and aerospace market environment," said William H. Swanson, Raytheon’s chairman and CEO, in a statement.

Raytheon posted net sales of $24.4 billion for 2012, down 1.5 percent from 2011. The Technical Services and Network Centric Systems divisions it plans to eliminate had a 10 percent and 3 percent decrease in net sales from the previous year, respectively.

Raytheon noted that the move will not affect its 2013 forecast. That forecast did not factor in the impact of across-the-board budget cuts from sequestration, but the company said in its earnings report that sequestration “could have a significant impact” on the aerospace and defense industry.  Raytheon’s “large international market presence” and diverse portfolio of programs could “mitigate the potential overall impact” of the cuts, the report said.  

Raytheon joins other large contractors including Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp., General Dynamics Corp. and BAE Systems, all of whom announced recent layoffs in a bid to restructure their businesses in a tough government and defense market.